Method and device for applying objects to printed matter

ABSTRACT

A method of applying objects to pages of printed matter including: advancing a strip of material which includes a number of repeating strip lengths, each strip length defining at least one page of the printed matter; providing a web of cards, with an object secured to each card of the web of cards; separating a card from the web of cards; and joining the card to a repeating strip length of the strip of material.

There has long been a desire for an object, such as a sachet, to besecured to a page in a piece of printed matter, such as a newspaper,leaflet or magazine. Hitherto, objects of this type have for thispurpose been stuck manually or by machine onto the page in loose-leafform, or if appropriate when the pages have already been combined toform the printed matter.

In addition, it has long been known to apply cards of paper or thincardboard automatically to a strip of paper moving through a rotaryprinting installation with the aid of a card-sticking machine before thestrip of paper is divided into separate sheets (cf. for example U.S.Pat. No. 4,351,517 (“Neal”), U.S. Pat. No. 5,968,307 (“Siler”) and EP-A0 949 178 (“Siler”)). For this purpose, a web of cards, comprising alarge number of cards, which are positioned one behind the other in alongitudinal direction, are made from single-layer paper and aresuccessively separated from the said web of cards one by one in thecard-sticking machine, in order each to be secured to a subsequent,repeating strip length, which forms a page and is advanced by the(rotary) printing installation or the like (for example intaglio,offset, heat-offset or cold-offset), is fed to a card-sticking machineof this type. Partly on account of the particularly high operating speed(80,000 or more cards per hour), the cards are attached to one anotherby means of a tearable perforation or other weakened line in the web ofcards, in which case the cards can easily, quickly and reliably beseparated from one another in a handling device of the card-stickingmachine by being torn off one another. If a tearable perforation orother weakened line is not present, the cards may also, as analternative, be separated from one another by being cut off one anotherwith the aid of a cutting device.

Identical information, images and the like can have been applied to therepeating strip length, but this is not a prerequisite. Rather, the termrepeating strip length is to understood as meaning that the strip isintended subsequently to be divided into separate leaves/sheets/pages.

As is known, the card-sticking machine includes a feed device having adrum and/or one or more rolls (referred to below as register drum forshort), over which the web of cards is guided (preferably substantiallywithout any slippage). The rotational speed of the register drum iscontrolled by a control device of the card-sticking machine in order toallow the advance of the web of cards of the card-sticking machine to besynchronized with the advance rate of the repeating strip length movingpast, so that each card is applied to substantially the same place onthe repeating strip length. It will be clear that the control device ofthe card-sticking machine will generally set the circumferentialvelocity of this register drum and therefore the speed at which the webof cards is supplied to the card-sticking machine to be considerablylower than the rate of advance of the repeating strip length movingpast, since the card length is shorter than the repeating strip lengthin the respective conveying directions. More details of thissynchronization and/or maintaining of a phase relationship between theweb of cards and the repeating strip length are found in EP-A 0 949 178(in particular FIGS. 7 and 8 and associated description) or in thepublicly available manual for the card-sticking machine marketed byHurletron, Inc. of Danville, Ill., USA, type Electrocard, model 763,dated 4 May 1992. The register drum may be designed with register means,such as radial projections (pins) on its surface in order to drive theweb of cards, or the register drum may move the web of cards on thebasis of friction, in which case means are provided for pressing the webof cards onto the register drum.

A characteristic feature in this context is that only a small part ofthe surface area of the cards is generally fixed to the repeating striplength, usually less than 50% of the surface area, or even less than 25%or less than approximately 10% of their surface area. A hotmeltadhesive, which is applied to the cards in the card-sticking machine bymeans of a metering nozzle mounted therein, generally, although notnecessarily, before the cards are separated from one another, isgenerally used to secure the cards to the repeating strip length. Thecards are often secured by adhesive at one longitudinal side edge, sothat at a later stage they can easily be removed from the printedproduct of which the repeating strip length forms part. However, it isalso possible for the card to be secured to the strip at differentpositions in its longitudinal and transverse directions, so that thecard is reliably able to remain lying flat on the repeating striplength.

The cards are generally rectangular, elongate and smaller than A4 or A5format (for example approximately 14 cm long).

The proposal is now for objects other than the conventional cards to beautomatically secured to the page at the time at which the page formspart of a strip of material which contains a large number of pages insuccession in the longitudinal direction. In this way, the object can beapplied using a card-sticking machine. The object is then placed ontothe strip of material after it has passed through one or more stationsin the printing installation in which an image, text or the like isapplied, for example using printing ink, and before this strip ofmaterial is divided into the separate sheets/pages. If the strip ofmaterial passes through a drying chamber or the like associated with theprinting installation, it is preferable for the object to be applied bythe card-sticking machine after the strip of material has passed throughthis drying chamber.

In the case of objects made from materials other than paper orrelatively thin solid cardboard, such as sachets, but also plastic cardsfor use as, for example credit cards, membership cards, etc., it has notproven possible for them to be supplied to a known card-sticking machinein the form of a continuous web in order then to be divided up intoindividual objects while at the same time complying with the desiredhigh operating speed. Tests have shown that objects of this type areunsuitable for tearing apart in the card-sticking machine, even if atearable perforation or other weakening is provided at the locationwhere it is desired for them to be torn.

To enable objects of this type still to be processed using acard-sticking machine, it is proposed for objects of this type, securedto a web of cards, to be fed to the card-sticking machine, with the webof cards being divided, in the card-sticking machine, into separatecards which each bear an object, after which the separate cards, eachbearing an object, are applied by the card-sticking machine to a passingstrip which is guided through a printing press or similar machine forthe production of a printed product by a successive series of(substantially) identical images being applied to a strip of material.This means that objects of this type are already separate from oneanother when they are fed to the card-sticking machine, which ispossible on account of the fact that the objects are applied to a web ofcards which is suitable for processing by the card-sticking machine.Therefore, in principle there is no need for any physical modificationto the existing card-sticking machine.

It will be clear that in the present context the term object is to beunderstood as meaning any conceivable object which can be applied to acard in order subsequently to be separated therefrom, i.e. not just theabovementioned cards or sachets, but also, for example, a piece of paperor film or foil. In particular, these are objects which are unsuitableto be fed to the card-sticking machine in the form of a continuous webof such objects which are fixed to one another via a weakened line inorder to be torn off one another in the card-sticking machine beforebeing separately applied to a passing strip.

The invention also relates to a continuous web of cards, which arepreferably secured to one another via a weakened line (tearableperforation) and are preferably made from flexible material, such aspaper or (thin) solid cardboard or plastic film, preferably packaged ina container in at least one or a large number of “fan-folded” stacksnext to and/or adjacent to one another, which container packaging isdisclosed, for example, in EP-A 0 441 136 or EP-A 0 763 491, bothincorporated by reference in the present application, the saidcontinuous web being suitable for processing by a card-sticking machinein a (rotary) printing installation. A (preferably relatively flat/thin)object is applied to the cards in the continuous web and can be removedfrom the card, for example a sachet (for example filled with powder,lotion, creme, liquid), a (substantially inflexible) plastic card, sothat the object can be distributed by being automatically applied in aprinted product with the aid of the card, which printed product isdistributed in the customary way. In this context, it will be clear thatthe form of the object is such that it does not significantly affect theappearance of the printed product (for example preferably does notsignificantly thicken the printed product, which, for example, wouldimpede standard distribution). Moreover, it is also conceivable for thecards belonging to the continuous web of cards to have similar cardsapplied to them, for example made from paper, (thin) solid cardboard,(plastic) film and the like.

The objects can be secured to the cards in any desired way, for exampleby adhesive or a rivet. It is preferable for the size of the object tobe such and/or for the object to be applied to a card such that theobject does not project beyond the longitudinal and side edges of thecard, and more preferably remains at a distance therefrom.

The invention is explained in more detail below with reference to acurrently advantageous exemplary embodiment which is shown in thedrawing and of which it will be clear that it is not intended torestrict the scope of the invention.

FIG. 1 shows a side view of the most important components of acard-sticking machine.

FIG. 2 shows part of a web of cards in plan view.

FIG. 3 shows part of a web of cards in side view and on a larger scale.

FIG. 4 diagrammatically depicts a side view of a stack of cards.

FIG. 5 shows a side view of a stack of cards on a pallet.

FIG. 6 shows a plan view of the stack of cards of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 shows a detail of the stack of cards of FIG. 5 in a perspectiveview.

The card-sticking machine 1 illustrated is incorporated in a rotaryprinting installation (not shown; for example for intaglio printing,offset or cold-set) for printing newspapers, magazines or the like, at alocation which is such that the strip of paper 2 which has been unwoundfrom a stock reel and printed by printing rolls passes through themachine 1 in accordance with the dashed line and in the directionindicated by the arrow, on its way to downstream cutting, binding andfinishing stations. On arrival at the machine 1, the strip 2 has alreadybeen printed with print which is repeated at a predetermined repeatlength, this repeat length corresponding to a page or an integermultiple of pages of printed matter. Also (optionally preprinted) cards3 are fed to the card-sticking machine 1 in the form of a single row ofcards 3 which has been formed into a continuous web 4 (cf. FIG. 2) whichadvances in the direction indicated by the arrow. In this web 4, thecards 3 are secured to one another by a tearable perforation 10. Thecards 3 also include a tearable perforation 20 (which may optionally beabsent) parallel to and at a short distance from a longitudinal edge 21of the web 4. In the machine 1, in each case the front card 3 in the web4 is pulled off along the tearable perforation after adhesive has beenapplied to this card 4, after which this card 4 is stuck to the strip 2.This sticking is carried out in such a manner that a card 4 is stuck toat least substantially the same location on each repeat length of thestrip 2 (cf. for example FIG. 2 of EP-A 0 949 178).

The cards 3 or the web 4 may be provided with a series of register holes9 (cf. FIG. 2) parallel to the longitudinal edge 21, but these registerholes may also be absent.

The web 4, which is supplied from a stock (not shown), passes overfreely rotating guide rolls 5 and 6 and then passes into the nip betweena rotating, driven drive drum 7 and a pressure-exerting roll 8, so thatthe web is frictionally locked to the drive drum 7 and as a result ispulled out of the stock. Two metering nozzles 11 then apply adhesive tothe web 4 which is carried along with the drive drum 7. One meteringnozzle 11 only meters adhesive for a short time per card 3, so that asmall spot of glue 12 is applied close to a corner of the card 3 (cf.FIG. 2). The other metering nozzle 11 applies a continuous orinterrupted strip of glue 13 in the region between the longitudinal edge21 and perforation line 20 (i.e. at a distance from the spot 12; cf.FIG. 2). The strip of glue 13 is in each case interrupted at thetearable perforation 10, so that there are no strings of glue formedwhen the cards 3 are being detached from one another. It will be clearthat in the view shown in FIG. 1 the nozzles 11 are located one behindthe other, and consequently only one is visible. Moreover, it will beclear that they maintain a space between them which at leastsubstantially corresponds to the space a shown in FIG. 2. Otherlocations for the nozzles 11 are also conceivable, optionally aligned inthe transverse direction of the web 3.

The web 4 then moves through the gap between guide plates 14, 15 locatedone above the other and then passes into the nip between a rotating,driven discharge drum 16 and a co-rotating conveyor belt 22 whichpresses the web 4 onto the drum 16 over a radial circumferential partthereof (for example at least 100), so that the web 4 is frictionallylocked to the discharge drum 16. The speed of the circumferentialsurface of the discharge drum 16 is in this case set to be higher thanthat of the circumferential surface of the drive drum 7, and it is alsoensured that there is no slip or scarcely any slip between web 4 anddrive drum 7 or discharge drum 16 (at most 0.1 mm, preferably at most0.02 mm, most preferably at most 0.01 mm of slip for one or both drums7, 16), so that the web is pulled strongly in the section between thedrums 7, 16, so that it yields at a tearable perforation, with theresult that the front card 3 is separated from the web 4 in the regionbetween the drums 7, 16. If they are suitably shaped, the guide plates14, 15 can ensure a local increase in stresses in the web 4 in order tohelp the tearable perforation 10 to yield. In this context, it will beclear that the free length of the web 4 between the drums 7, 16 is atmost double the length of the card.

In this embodiment, the drum 7 does not have any register pins or thelike, which are intended to interact in a positively locking manner withthe cards 3, for example by fitting through the register holes 9,projecting out of its circumferential surface. In an alternativeembodiment, however, the drum may be provided with register means ofthis type. In this case, these register means on web 4 and drum 7prevent slippage between drum 7 and web 4, and consequently thefrictional lock between web 4 and drum 7, which is generated by thepressure-exerting roll 8, in order to prevent this slip, does not playany role, and consequently this roll 8 can be omitted in thisembodiment. The pressure-exerting roll 8 may if appropriate be replacedby another (pressure-exerting) means in order to ensure at leastsubstantially slip-free frictional lock between drum 7 and web 4, forexample a pressure-exerting belt which is similar to belt 22 andmaintains a constant gap width over a radial part (for example at least10°) of the drum circumference. The belt 22 may if appropriate also bereplaced by another (pressure-exerting) means in order to ensure atleast substantially slip-free frictional lock between drum 16 and card3, such as a pressure-exerting roll which is similar topressure-exerting roll 8. To synchronize the advance of a card 3 and thestrip 2, in order for the card 3 always to be secured to the correctlocation on a repeating strip length, the machine 1 includes, betweenthe drums 7, 16, a detector 17 which comprises a light sensor 17 a and alight beam generator 17 b, the light beam from generator 17 b beinginterrupted by a passing card 3, which is recorded by the sensor 17 a.It is in this way possible to reliably determine, inter alia, theposition between the drums 7, 16 of the front edge of the first card 3of the web 4. The detector 17 also counts the number of cards 3 andcontrols the metering from the nozzles 11.

While the separated card 3 is being advanced by the drum 16 on its outercircumference, the glued side of the card 3 comes into contact with thestrip 2 which is being advanced through the nip between the drum 16 andan freely rotating pressure-exerting roll 24, is stuck fixedly to thisstrip 2 and then leaves the machine 1 together with the repeating strippart. On account of the fact that the card 3 is stuck to the strip 2 bythe spot 12 and the strip of glue 13, the card 3 will reliably continueto lie flat on the strip 2 and will not project up from it.

The machine 1 is controlled in such a manner that the circumferentialsurface of the drum 16 moves at the same speed as the strip 2. For thispurpose, the control unit receives information concerning the speed ofthe strip 2 from the printing press, and the control unit matches thespeed of the drum 16 to this speed. The speed of the circumferentialsurface of the drum 7 is controlled by the control unit as a function ofthe position of the card 3 detected by the detector 17, in order toensure that the card 3 reaches the correct location on the strip 2. Itwill be clear that the variation in speed of the drum 7 for thissynchronization is relatively minor with respect to the mean speed ofthis drum 7, for example amounting to at most 20% thereof.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, an object 18 is applied to each card 3. Itwill be clear that the object 18 covers only part of the surface of thecard 3. It is preferable for the object 18 to be located on that side ofthe card which faces away from the glued side of the card.

The object 18 will generally be considerably more flexurally rigid thanthe card 3 to which it is secured. To ensure that the object 18 on thecard 3 is advanced without problems, it is preferably for the object 18to be secured to the card 3 in such a manner that at least its frontedge (i.e. the front edge as seen in the direction of advance) cannotbecome caught behind anything. This can be avoided by affixing the frontedge to the card 3 locally or over its entire width, for example by asmall piece of adhesive tape 25. To allow easy removal of the object 18from the card 3 in the completed printed product, it is preferable forthe object 18 only to be stuck to the card 3 locally, for example at onelocation 26, rather than over a large area. This represents asignificant departure from the film-like membership cards which arealready known per se and are stuck over their entire surface, as aneasily removable label, to a sheet or card which is to be incorporatedin the printed product.

FIGS. 4-7 show how the cards, with the objects 18 (not shown) on them,can be held in a storage container in order to be fed to thecard-sticking machine 1. As shown in FIG. 4, the web of cards 4 ispresent in one or more stacks, with the web 4 in a stack being folded inzigzag (“fan folded”), the folded edges being denoted by 37 and 39.These folded edges preferably also form the longitudinal boundaries of acard 3 and also the weakened lines. Each stack is preferably inside abox 61, 63. The web 4 continues uninterrupted into the adjacent stack,with the web 4 preferably extending from the bottom of one stack (inFIG. 4 in box 63) along this stack before passing to the top of the nextstack (in FIG. 4 in the box 61), etc. In this way, the web 4 can besuccessively pulled out of the stacks, starting at the top of the stackin box 63 and from there down to the bottom of this stack before thenstarting without interruption at the top of box 61, etc. In this way, itis possible for a compact stock of web of cards to be fed at very highspeed to the card-sticking machine 1. FIGS. 5-7 show how stacks of thistype may be arranged next to one another and behind one another, withthe web 4 continuing without interruption into all the stacks. As can beseen from the drawing, web 4 runs through the stacks column by column,in the manner illustrated in FIG. 2, and the web 4 follows a loop 72 atthe transition from one column to the next. In this way, the web 4 runsfrom the bottom of the last stack in one row to the top card 3 in thelast stack in the next row. Further details are to be found in EP-B1 0763 491. The reference numerals starting from 30 used in FIGS. 4-7correspond to those used in EP-B1 0 763 491 and denote correspondingelements. The reference numerals below 30 used in EP-B1 0 763 491 arealso included in FIGS. 4-7, with 100 added to them. For example, thepresent invention relates to the subject matter of one of claims 1-8from EP-B1 0 763 491, with the particular feature that these transversefolds are weakened lines along which the material can be separated inthe card-sticking machine, while objects are applied to the material, sothat they can be secured in the printed product by the card-stickingmachine. This allows more than 100,000 cards to be supplied as a singlepackage.

Other ways of combining the web of cards to form a compact stock alsoform part of the invention. For example, in a variant on that shown inFIGS. 5-7, the web of cards 4 runs from the bottom of the last stack inone row to the top card 3 in the first stack of the next row, so thatthe loop 72 extends from one side to the opposite side of the container110. A similar example is discussed in column 6, lines 34-51 of EP-B1 0763 491.

The loop 72 may optionally include a turn.

It should also be noted that use of the invention may require particularattention for what are known as sandwich rolls in the printing press, onaccount of the possibly locally thicker nature of the object which ispassing through sandwich rolls of this type (which hold the strip ofpaper under tension). It will therefore be easiest for the invention tobe used in a newspaper press rather than an intaglio printing press.

It should be clear that starting on the basis of what has been disclosedin the present document or in response to this disclosure, it will beobvious to the average person skilled in the art that further variantswhich are based on this knowledge are also encompassed by the invention,for example originating from the omission and/or replacement with anequivalent aspect of one or more aspects from an embodiment which hasbeen described above or derived therefrom, and/or a combination of oneor more aspects of an embodiment of this type with one or more aspectsof one or more other embodiments of this type.

1-11. (canceled)
 12. A method of applying objects to pages of printedmatter comprising: advancing a strip of material which comprises anumber of repeating strip lengths, each strip length defining at leastone page of the printed matter; providing a web of cards, with an objectsecured to each card of the web of cards; separating a card from the webof cards; and joining the card to a repeating strip length of the stripof material.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein a leading edge of theobject is secured to an associated card by an adhesive strip.
 14. Themethod of claim 13, wherein the adhesive strip extends partially on aside of the object facing away from the card.
 15. The method of claim12, wherein the object is secured to an associated card by an adhesivebond substantially in spot form.
 16. The method of claim 12, whereineach card is provided with glue on one side thereof before the card isjoined to a repeating strip length of the strip of material.
 17. Themethod of claim 16, wherein the one side is a side of the card facingaway from the object.
 18. The method of claim 16, wherein each card isprovided with a line of adhesive in a vicinity of an edge of the card.19. The method of claim 18, wherein the card has a longitudinal edge,and the line of adhesive is provided along the longitudinal edge of thecard.
 20. The method of claim 12, wherein the card is joined to arepeating strip length of the strip of material by an adhesive bondsubstantially in spot form in a vicinity of an edge of the card.
 21. Themethod of claim 20, wherein the edge is a leading edge.
 22. The methodof claim 12, wherein the card has opposite longitudinal edges, and thecard is provided with a line of adhesive along a longitudinal edge ofthe card, and a spot of glue is provided near an opposite longitudinaledge of the card.